[revisit] carnitas uruapan | la mesa

I had a mini-vacation last week but I’m going to do the “easy” post first – a revisit to one of our usual haunts in La Mesa. It’s a little place called Carnitas Uruapan (which I fondly call “Uhuara” because I’m a geek and I always forget the “Uruapan” part of the name). Jake made the suggestion over the weekend and it was a fine suggestion. We were out running errands and this was a really nice stop for lunch.

We’ve been here quite a few times and my go-to item are Carnitas Uruapan’s potato tacos. And I really wanted to order them again but I also felt I need to step out of that comfort zone and try something new here instead of always getting the same thing. I wanted to see if their other items were just as good as our favorites.

Chips and salsa are included with your order when you dine at Carnitas Uruapan. They have a really killer salsa to go with the chips. It’s a smooth salsa and it’s not too hot. It’s spicy in a flavorful way, not an “my-mouth-is-burning-omg” way. Usually when we have salsa with chips I only dip my chips in a little but with this salsa I really dunk my whole chip in since it’s so flavorful.

[sopes lunch special / $4.99]

Jake noticed they had some lunch specials which are only featured on the drive-thru menu (but you can also see it on their website here). For $4.99 you get your choice of a taco, tostada, sope, or enchilada plus beans and rice. The special is offered every day from 12PM to 3PM.

Jake choose the sope to try something new as well. A sope is kind of like a tostada but with a really thick bottom shell instead of the crispy crunch thinly fried tortilla. The sope tasted pretty good – it had layers of beans, carnitas, guacamole, salsa fresca, and cheese on top. 

[milanesa plate / $6.99]

As for myself, I decided to get the Milanesa Plate. The Milanesa plate came with a ton of food for only $6.99! You get a large piece of milanesa (it was two chunks put together), french fries, beans, rice, plus tortillas. 

You can choose corn or flour tortillas and I picked corn. I got five corn tortillas and I only managed to eat two of them with my meal. It was a really generous portion of food. 

The milanesa had a nice outer coating on the steak. There were plenty of seasonings in the breading to give it tons of flavor and the milanesa itself was juicy on the inside. I loved the crunch edges of the steak, too! 

Jake and I couldn’t remember if we had ever tried the refried beans here and I’m happy to report that I really enjoyed these beans. They had a nice flavor and were pretty creamy. I made little tacos with my milanesa, beans, and rice – a really delicious combination!

Jake and I were pretty happy to discover that other items on the menu at Carnitas Uruapan are good so we can explore the menu a bit more and not be totally afraid of straying away from our favorites. The food here is solid, it’s delicious, it’s affordable and we’ll be keeping it in our rotation.

Carnitas Uruapan Mexican Food
4233 Spring St.
La Mesa, CA 91941
(619) 337-2448